Title: zenith of stars
Rating: T
Summary: "It's not the Six Eyes," they said. So then, the question is –what is it? [OC, Mystic Eyes of Death Perception!OC, AU]
Warnings: Description of violence, gore, injuries.
AN at bottom.
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zenith of stars
"25: to the rise"
.
Following the dirt road, it doesn't take long before Shiki reaches the village. The one that Iori-sensei had originally been visiting before everything then proceeded to go terribly awry, according to the information that Choki had received.
Grade One cursed spirit. If it's not exorcised soon –potentially a Special Grade.
The young girl silently eyes the jagged spikes of earth protruding upwards, the long crevices splitting open the ground. Most of the buildings are destroyed, either directly torn in half or crushed by the broken debris from neighboring structures. There are also quite a few fires burning in the wreckage, crackling flames that send long plumes of dark smoke billowing into the sky as a dark, heavy cloud.
The village is… empty.
… Shiki doesn't know if that's a good thing or not. On one hand, it's possible that most of the villagers were able to safely evacuate, which would be the best case scenario. Choki would run into them, if they were currently stumbling their way down the mountain. On the other hand, the sheer amount of blood splattered everywhere is also quite telling.
The reality is probably a mix of the two.
Shiki turns her focus towards the cursed energy lingering in her surroundings. A powerful Grade One cursed spirit is more than capable of hiding residual traces of cursed energy and the like, but in a battle that wrought as much destruction as this, she rather doubts that it would've been paying any attention to cleaning up after itself. Not that Shiki was complaining.
East, she determines. The cursed spirit had headed east, after wreaking havoc in the village. Given what she was seeing, going by the distinctly familiar residual energies that she recognized right beside that of the cursed spirit's…
Iori-sensei led it eastwards. Either that, or Iori-sensei had been the one driven eastwards by the cursed spirit… which was also a very real possibility.
… Shiki is leaning towards Iori-sensei to be the one deliberately leading it away, though. There's no particular reason for the cursed spirit to deliberately choose to leave its chosen hunting grounds, if it already made the decision to attack the village in the first place. Besides, even though Iori-sensei did not specialize in combat, she was still a Semi Grade One sorcerer. No Semi Grade One sorcerer, even a support-type, ever goes down easily.
The white-haired girl takes off at a swift run, following the residuals.
It's trickier than expected. The cursed spirit is doing something strange to the mountain, which means that its cursed energy is bleeding everywhere and interfering with the readings that she's getting. But Shiki continues following along; she has to. If Iori-sensei is really–
There's a sudden concentration of red-violet lines that glow alarmingly in front of her. Shiki jumps, neatly vaulting over the sudden protrusion of another earthen pillar, not unlike the ones that she'd seen scattered about back in the village.
… She's getting close, isn't she?
Shiki's eyes flicker over her surroundings. There's no clear path, as she'd followed the residuals of cursed energy off the main road quite a while ago. A winding trail which only led her deeper and deeper into the dark forest undergrowth. But oddly enough, the residuals seem to come to a complete stop right around here, which is unusual, and suspicious. Shiki doesn't sense any battle going on around her.
Was she too late? Did Iori-sensei already–?
No. Don't think like that.
The ground beneath her feet trembles. Shiki whirls aside, deftly dodging a set of three sharp spikes that surge up from beneath her feet one after another with unerring accuracy.
High-level earth manipulation, from the looks of things. And with this sort of accuracy –the cursed spirit was capable of locating its targets without visual confirmation. This was something that Shiki would expect to see from a nature spirit, not a curse… although this sort of sensitivity could be explained by the high volume of cursed energy threaded through the mountainous terrain. Because if her surroundings had already been converted into a pseudo-domain of sorts, then it only made sense that the cursed spirit would be able to easily identify and attack anyone and everything within its range as it wished.
That meant she needed to hurry.
Loose shrubbery. Scattered rocks. Twigs and leaves. At a glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Shiki continues dodging the earth lances hurled towards her, with no trace of the cursed spirit anywhere in sight. It's more irritating than actually dangerous, since it's not hard to avoid, but it does make it harder for Shiki to concentrate, which is probably the point. Every second that she wastes here is another second where Iori-sensei could be dying–
Shiki tamps down firmly on the faint flicker of impatience rising in her chest. Impatience leads to carelessness, leads to death. She won't be of any help to anyone as a broken corpse on the ground.
If I'm being targeted like this, then it means I'm on the right track. The cursed spirit hadn't attacked her when she'd looked around the destroyed village earlier, even though the village was also clearly within its range. So if she was only actively targeted now, then it meant that she was close. The cursed spirit wanted to drive her away. As for what it was attempting to drive her away from–
There!
Interlocking branches, forming an archway. Difficult to discern, if not looking from the correct angle, but Shiki glances up and finally sees it in between all her dodging. The positioning of these trees form a distinct gateway, one that is also accompanied by the gentle trickles of water from the nearby stream.
Water is a boundary.
A gate, and a boundary, all saturated in the same heavy layer of cursed energy infecting the mountain.
So it's this sort of barrier. The type of barrier that was difficult to spot, because it wasn't solely maintained by the user's cursed energy. Instead, it was embedded into the surroundings, with the very land itself acting as an anchor.
Shiki twists as she lands on the ground, and darts forward without pause. The very instant her foot touches down on the other shore side of the merrily-gurgling stream beneath the empty branches, the world around her distorts, and–
Blood.
Shiki smells blood.
There is an overwhelming scent of blood and carnage that hangs poignantly in the air, thick and pungent. Her first step into this well-hidden barrier is a slippery one that immediately lands her into something warm and faintly sticky. Shiki stumbles, but manages to catch herself swiftly and regain her balance. Even so, there's no helping the darkening hem of her newly-stained kimono. The bright red color stands out visibly against the smoky gray of the fabric.
But the state of her clothing is currently the least of her worries.
Cursed energy coils throughout her body like a spring, and Shiki moves. Her Kotetsu sword is drawn in a heartbeat, and she cuts–
–nothing.
Her sword swings through the empty air, slicing nothing.
… It doesn't matter. She'll deal with the cursed spirit that just fled in a moment. Right now, Shiki's attention is preoccupied with the sorcerer who is gasping on her hands and knees on the ground, sucking in lungfuls of sweet air after nearly having been strangled to death by a cursed spirit pinning her down.
No, not just strangled. Shiki notes the gnawed bite-marks, the dark discoloration marring pale forearms in a manner that's almost reminiscent of rot, from where the cursed spirit had been overlaying the woman. If she's not reading the signs wrong, it hadn't just been trying to kill her; the cursed spirit had been trying to consume her.
Blood continues steadily splattering down to the ground, even as the sorcerer gradually regains control of her breathing.
"Iori-sensei?"
Her teacher's head snaps up in clear shock. "S-Shiki? What in the world are you doing here?"
Shiki blinks, similarly startled. And for a single breathless moment, she finds herself at a complete loss for words.
… There's no doubt that this is Iori Utahime, the same woman who has been teaching Shiki intricate details of various dances, as well as finer points of the rituals and traditions involved. The distinctive signature of Iori-sensei's cursed energy is something that Shiki is well-familiar with at this point. It's not something she would make any careless mistakes identifying.
The cursed energy that she senses indicates that this is undoubtedly Iori-sensei.
Visually, however, it's another matter entirely. Because the woman's face has been halfway carved open, revealing the raw flesh and bone underneath, wet and glistening with blood. Even now, there's still blood steadily trickling down Iori-sensei's face in uneven rivulets. The only thing that's still recognizable on her face would be her eyes –chestnut brown eyes that are no longer warm and cheerful, but instead openly fearful, pupils blown wide with a combination of pain and terror.
Iori-san is always composed and put-together during their lessons, elegant and graceful. There is no longer a single trace of that elegance remaining anymore, as she stares up towards Shiki from where she's bleeding on the ground, horrified.
"Why are you here?" Iori-sensei whispers again, even though she shouldn't be talking so carelessly over trivial things that don't matter. Talking can't be good for that ghastly injury splitting across her face. Had the cursed spirit been aiming to slice off her head? "How on earth–?"
"Your assistant manager called for backup, and I happened to be nearby," Shiki hears herself responding, distant and detached. "I don't know how to perform reverse cursed technique like Ieiri-san. I apologize. Are you still able to strengthen your constitution with cursed energy?"
"Backup–? No, that's not important right now." A sense of urgency seeps into Iori-sensei's words. "Shiki, you shouldn't be here. You need to go! This isn't–"
Cursed energy erupts in the ground beneath their feet, potent and electrifying. Shiki reacts instantly, swinging her sword downwards in a clean slash to sever the glowing lines indicating another activation of the cursed spirit's irritating technique. The shaking ground stills once more.
She looks up and casts her gaze across the length of the maybe-illusory underground cavern.
Under any other circumstances, this mossy cavern would be a beautiful one. Colorful lichens cover the rocks, beside small patches of grass that appear almost luminescent, glowing with a pale blue light in the darkness. It would be an ethereal sight, if it were not ruined by the copious amounts of blood pooling in the ground.
In addition to the blood-red moss growing atop blackened human corpses, strewn messily between the rocky protrusions.
… Unexpectedly, there's no trace of the insectoid cursed spirit she had chased off of Iori-sensei, just moments ago. Was it a curse that specialized in hiding?
No, that was doubtful. If the curse could injure Iori-sensei so grievously, then it was highly unlikely that it was one that was only good at running away. There was also the matter of the proficiency it had shown manipulating earth spears to attack Shiki, earlier. An aptitude for ambush tactics, perhaps?
"What can you tell me about the curse?" Shiki asks her teacher, continuing to carefully watch their eerie surroundings.
To her credit, Iori-sensei swallows down her protests at Shiki's presence in favor of focusing on the dangerous situation at hand. "… It's a high-level Grade One, with earth manipulation abilities. It can make all manner of earthen constructs, including clones of itself."
Shiki hums lightly in acknowledgment. Clones could be tricky to deal with. "Maximum?"
"I only saw three." Implying that the cursed spirit might be capable of making more clones beyond that, but three had been enough to push a Semi Grade One sorcerer like Iori-sensei into dire straits. "Its main body is also poisonous on touch."
"Noted." That explained the mottled-looking rot that she'd seen on the woman's arms, then. Poison made things a little trickier, especially considering Shiki's preference for close-range combat, but shielding herself properly with cursed energy should be able to stave off the worst of it.
The young girl raises her sword in front of herself in a ready position. Breathes carefully, and concentrates, as hostile cursed energy swells around them in a low tide.
A chattering hiss begins to resound in the cavern. The guttural rattle that starts off as a low whisper, before slowly crescendoing into a full-out roar.
Food, food, food!
Gas bills are getting higher…
Tickets are sold out!
The gibberish of nonsensical chatter is a headache and a half to listen to, but at least it confirms one thing: This isn't a Special Grade curse. There's no coherence, no lucidity.
(Yet.)
The cavern rumbles. Then, earthen spikes burst forward from the ground once more.
Shiki is able to intercept the few aimed at Iori-sensei, but there are far too many for her to block completely. She is forced to abandon her position and dodge when one comes right at her from a sharp angle, with the clear intent of goring her through. Even so, Shiki still manages to destroy it with three swings of her sword, repeating the process against a second earthen spire that comes too close for comfort, but by this point it's apparent that the cursed spirit has decided to focus on targeting Shiki. Abruptly, the pillars aimed towards her split and multiply into thinner, elongated spikes, streaking towards her from all sides.
"Shiki!"
She can't say that she's particularly surprised. And… it is what she's been surreptitiously aiming for, in a manner of speaking, so it's not as if she has anyone to blame for her predicament. Iori-sensei might not be paying much attention to it, but there's no way that the cursed spirit attacking them is overlooking Shiki's cursed energy. Which she currently makes absolutely no attempt to hide and is, in fact, flaring it, hopefully obscuring Iori-sensei's own flickering signature.
Shiki chances a quick glance backwards in her teacher's direction. There are a lot less spikes aimed towards her now; good. The cursed spirit had chosen to prioritize Shiki as the most pressing threat.
Where is it hiding?
Is the cursed spirit hiding within the walls? Beneath the ground? It's nowhere in sight right now, but Shiki had glimpsed it, when she'd first entered the barrier and found it crouched over Iori-sensei. She had seen it; more specifically, she had seen its lines.
In the earth around them, densely-packed clusters of red-violet lines flash brightly, indicative of the activation of its cursed technique. It provides a good smokescreen, but Shiki remains meticulously attentive in her search, in between fending off the attacks aimed towards her. Her eyes might be incapable of observing the buildup and flow of cursed energy in the world around her like the Six Eyes, but cursed techniques are another matter entirely.
Beginning and end. Open and close.
Because cursed techniques are only finite things, in the end. And Shiki has been able to see the lines in active cursed technique for years.
She ducks and weaves through the earthen death traps that the cursed spirit attempts to trip her footing with and trap her in. There are numerous holes in the ground at this point, and it's probably only thanks to her rigorous dance training that Shiki is able to navigate the unstable terrain as gracefully as she is.
She should probably do something nice for Iori-sensei, as thanks.
… Getting the woman out of this mess alive first might be a good start.
Shiki touches down on a hole-ridden stretch of the field, raises her sword, and stabs down. There's absolutely no resistance that meets her blade as she cuts, guided by the eerie glow of red lines gleaming in the light–
A bloodcurdling scream fills the air, ringed with the tortured echo of a thousand ghostly, agonized voices.
"Got you."
Shiki flips up while keeping a hand on her sword and lashes out with a backwards kick at the heavy cursed spirit that drops down from above –a clone, her eyes inform her, from the looks of those splintering lines– and knocks it aside, directly into where another clone charges in from her left. The two promptly go tumbling head over heels upon slamming into each other. There is a loud screech, as the outlines of both deformed insectoids waver and destabilize from the force of the collision, then crumble into dust.
To her right, the third clone is already upon her.
Its goal is blatantly obvious: To force Shiki to retract her blade from where it's ruthlessly stabbed into the main body. However, that's not what's going to happen here. Instead of pulling out her blade or even turning to face the clone as any sensible sorcerer would do, Shiki–
Doesn't bother with so much as a second glance, and elbows the clone. Hard.
Cursed energy surges through her limbs, flaring out at the very instant of contact. It feels like hitting a wall, and she's definitely going to have a very impressive set of bruises on her joint to show for this tomorrow. But given how the two previous clones had fallen apart just now, this much force should suffice for the third clone as well.
As expected, the last clone crumbles, shattered into pieces by the blow.
… They were certainly sturdy, if nothing else. If not for her relatively sizable reserves of cursed energy to draw upon, Shiki wouldn't have been able to destroy them so easily through brute force like this. It explains why Iori-sensei had struggled against three of them surrounding her at once; lacking the cursed energy output and without any way to decisively put any of them down, all of the clones were both hardy and powerful enough to pose a not-significant threat, for a sorcerer with her skill set. Not to mention, the advantage in terrain–
A startled shout.
Iori-sensei?
Shiki glances over towards where her teacher was lagging behind, only to see a fourth clone towering above the woman. From the looks of it, Iori-sensei had tripped and fallen while dodging one of its attacks, and was just now staggering back to her feet –but she won't make it in time. The insect-like construct is already rearing back for another blow.
… If Shiki moves, if she takes back her sword and runs to her teacher's defense, then it renders all of her previous efforts useless. The cursed spirit would just hide itself again, except this time with the surefire knowledge that Shiki was capable of finding it, so it wouldn't be as easy to get another opening –which had been difficult enough to do already, with the cursed spirit manipulating the ground like that.
Besides, what if it decided to burrow deeper underground, where Shiki's blade could no longer reach it? It would be foolish to rely on a curse's destructive nature to do all the necessary legwork for her in tearing up their surroundings. Besides, there was only so much landscaping that the ground could take in the first place, before something unfortunate like a cave-in happened. Shiki still isn't quite sure whether this cavern is an actual area within the mountain or a separate subspace or some combination of the two, and she has no interest in finding out by testing the structural integrity of her surroundings.
Obviously, the cursed spirit is betting on Shiki releasing it to rescue Iori-sensei. Because she had already shown once that she was willing to prioritize the older sorcerer's well-being, over instantly hunting it down. The cursed spirit isn't exactly wrong… but at the same time, it also is.
Shiki kicks up her foot, sliding out a small knife from the false bottom of her shoe, and hurls it towards the clone.
This far from her target, there's no way for her to actually cut any of its lines. Shiki makes up for that by imbuing her cursed energy and throwing it as hard as she can, before the curse can crush her heavily-injured teacher. Surprisingly, the knife ends up flying directly through the clone like an arrow. It pierces clear through the patch of red lines clustered along its torso and firmly embeds itself into the ground an inch away from Iori-sensei's hand.
Thank you for your gift, Jihei-san.
Iori-sensei shrieks a little bit, jolting slightly backwards in surprise, but she's a sorcerer. The woman's subsequent reaction is swift and decisive as she yanks the knife back out from the ground, and finishes the job. Even though Shiki didn't cut any of its lines, the knife had still found its mark, greatly weakening it –thus making it an easy target for Iori-sensei, even despite the injuries.
"Did you just pull out a knife from your shoe?" her teacher demands, incredulous voice pitched high with just a touch of hysteria.
"… Be careful, raising your voice like that can't be good for your injuries," Shiki answers evasively. Iori-sensei's priorities, really! Shiki genuinely doesn't understand her teacher. Was the knife really the important thing here?
The woman splutters incoherently.
Satisfied that her teacher doesn't appear to be in any life-threatening danger, Shiki returns her attention to the cursed spirit trapped beneath her sword. She drives the blade deeper into the ground, inwardly satisfied at the round of renewed screaming that results from her actions.
With the ground as cracked and crumbling as it is, it's easy to make out the silhouette of the troublesome cursed spirit, now. Similar to the clones that had attacked them earlier, the main body is also faintly reminiscent of some deformed water bug of sorts, with an insectoid body that looks oddly distended around the middle of its torso. Heavy pincers twitch and swipe weakly in Shiki's direction, but to no avail.
The white-haired girl finishes cutting the cursed spirit into two, cleaves off a bulging arm for good measure, then turns back towards Iori-sensei.
"Your injuries?" she asks as she briskly steps over. Although the altercation with the tricky cursed spirit hadn't lasted too long in its entirety, Iori-sensei was still heavily wounded, and Shiki was worried about how she was holding up.
The girl takes another moment to catalogue her teacher's injuries –aside from the lacerated face and the cursed injury affecting her arms, the way that Iori-sensei visibly favors her left side suggests that she might be affected by some other severe injury to her right leg. Walking would be difficult.
… While Shiki can use cursed energy to strengthen herself, it does nothing for her actual size. Which means it would be a struggle for a girl of her size to carry Iori-sensei down the mountain by herself. In all honesty, it might actually end up being better for them to just stay put here and wait for Choki to arrive with the eventual help. Speaking of–
"Do you know where your assistant manager is?"
"No." Iori-sensei blinks rapidly a few times, and Shiki carefully reaches over to dab away some of the blood that's getting into the older woman's eyes. "I… I told her to run. To take the survivors and run. I-I can try to call her. Unfortunately, I lost track of things after getting pulled into this… barrier…"
The woman's voice trails off slowly, and the two sorcerers stare at each other in slow, dawning realization.
This barrier that Iori-sensei had been trapped in was one conjured by the cursed spirit. The same one that Shiki had just killed. It was dead.
So… why wasn't the barrier disappearing?
Shiki whirls around, and–
Almost as if exactly on cue to their thoughts, suddenly there is a long, strident scream that rings out through the underground cavern. A sound that's emanating from the cursed spirit's bisected body, and–
It's–
There's some strange blue-gray substance that's oozing, leaking out from the separated insectoid halves and pooling on the ground. Almost liquid, but not, because the consistency is too thick for that. The haunting wail echoes in the air, hanging over their heads like a guillotine
Then, the viscous substance bursts upwards. Long tendrils swiftly elongate and extend, twisting upwards into a skeletal frame that bears an almost abstract resemblance to its previous insect form. But whereas the lower half retains an insectoid shape, the upper half of its body twists into a disproportionate caricature of a naked human torso, with a single lopsided human arm stretched out unevenly towards the side.
… How was it still alive?
Shiki knows that she had cut its line after stabbing it through the ground. She'd split it directly through its middle! … Had it been because she'd only severed a single set of its lines? Shiki hadn't thought it would matter; the rest of its lines had been flickering and multiplying over themselves in the manner indicative of impending death, anyways, and she'd been far more concerned over Iori-sensei–
Beside her, Iori-sensei makes a horrified, retching sound from witnessing the grotesque metamorphosis. Shiki honestly can't blame her. She's seen quite a number of unsettling scenes to date, as a sorcerer-in-training, but this is still… disturbing.
Wrong.
This isn't just a Grade One cursed spirit, she realizes grimly. This thing is a cursed womb. A rare occurrence when a cursed spirit wasn't actually born as a full-fledged cursed spirit, but rather one that was in a state of gestation, immature and infantile both in mindset and in ability.
… But no longer.
The Special Grade cursed spirit's head tilts down; a hideous mockery of a human face, with antennae and mandibles in place of where the hair and mouth would usually be. Its too-large eyeballs roll wildly behind closed eyelids, before it suddenly blinks its eyes open. The eyes are fully black, with no trace of any division between the sclera or iris, nor even the pupils. Its eyes snap open as pitch-black globes blacker than the darkest shadow, and then it smiles. Insectoid jaws yawn wide and snap coldly, glinting beneath the faint, unnatural light cast by the cavern's eerie moss-glow.
"I will enjoy killing you, sorcerers."
The raspy voice is low, masculine. There is no longer the accompanying chaos of a thousand cursed tones vying with each other for dominance. Now, only a clear, single voice remains as the cursed spirit addresses them. Calmly, and rationally.
Special Grade.
It's Special Grade, there's no doubt about it. The way that its crushing cursed energy flares out and presses down on them is only a mere footnote to the intelligence that it now displays. Iori-sensei sucks in a sharp, hissing breath of pain behind her, and Shiki instinctively extends a wave of her cursed energy over the other woman. There is a soft white glow, and Iori-sensei's expression eases –but Shiki frowns, when she notices a faint tingling, burning sensation on her own skin.
… So that's how it is. The Special Grade's cursed energy is corrosive. Shiki counters this by pulling up even more of her own cursed energy to reinforce her body and defend against it. Iori-sensei, too.
"You're a strong one," the cursed spirit says to Shiki. Lightly, conversationally, and wholly unthreatened. Why would it be? It's standing right in the middle of its pseudo-domain, while the two of them are trapped here with it. The cursed spirit is the one with the clear advantage. "But I will tear you to pieces. Rip off your limbs and crush your bones. Eat your flesh and drink your blood. It will be a feast."
Is Shiki capable of killing a Special Grade curse?
She can still see its lines, so that means it's killable, but… she'd cut its line earlier, as a cursed womb, and the curse hadn't died. Had evolved from a Grade One cursed womb into a full-fledged Special Grade cursed spirit, instead. Was it simply because its life-force was too strong to be killed with a single blow, tied to the land as it was? Did Shiki need to cut all twenty of those gleaming red lines crisscrossed over its body, in order to fully kill it?
… Would she still be capable of protecting Iori-sensei at the same time, while she's fighting the most difficult opponent she's ever faced?
No, there's no time to dwell on distracting thoughts like that. It doesn't matter. None of it matters. If Shiki doesn't fight the cursed spirit, then it's guaranteed that both of them are going to die here. Iori-sensei's condition wasn't looking so good. So that meant they needed to end things, quickly.
A tall order, against a Special Grade cursed spirit. Especially when Shiki herself is only a Semi Grade One sorcerer, too.
It's a rather mixed ranking, a tentative label that's the result of many, many inconclusive arguments. The Gojo elders were never able to settle on whether or not her cursed eyes were on the level of being classified as Special Grade. Her baseline physical strength was probably somewhere around Grade Four to Grade Three on its own. With cursed energy reinforcement, probably around Grade Two on average, low Grade One when she was concentrating. Her cursed energy output was a solid high Grade One
Would this be enough against a Special Grade cursed spirit with an apparent proclivity towards the taste of human flesh?
… She doesn't know.
What Shiki does know, is that she'd made a grave mistake earlier. She shouldn't have been so quick to assume that the cursed womb was already dead, after cutting it into two. Her eyes gave her the ability to easily kill things, which had backfired on her by lulling her into a false sense of security when she saw that dying, but not dead.
And because of her mistake, a Special Grade cursed spirit had been born.
Shiki grips her sword tightly, and levels it at the curse. Unlike the shaky, heavy sensation that weighs upon her chest for the consequences of her foolish oversight, the Kotetsu blade gifted to her by Kiyohira-sensei remains steady and does not waver.
"If you want to kill me, then come and try."
The cursed spirit laughs. Its voice echoes throughout the cavern, a chittering hiss that underlays its arrogant amusement–
Then, the entire world tilts on its side.
Shiki instantly reacts and grabs onto Iori-sensei with her free hand, fingers digging into the back of the woman's bloodstained kosode with a death grip as the ground is unceremoniously yanked out from beneath their feet. Ignoring Iori-sensei's sudden shout, the girl channels cursed energy into her legs and jumps. What would've been a well-timed evasion of the multiple earthen spikes shooting towards them at speed from all sides turns out to be half a beat slow, resulting in a deep gash on Shiki's leg. Fortunately, it doesn't tear anything important.
The curse's manipulation of the terrain had already been well-controlled as a cursed womb, but now it was abundantly clear that the entirety of the underground terrain was a toybox for it to play with. Shiki touches down for barely a single second, before she's forced to run or be impaled by a new spike shooting up from underfoot. The cursed spirit does not limit itself to its favored spikes, either. Shiki grimaces when the walls around them begin shifting and boxing them in, forming a cage-like structure to limit their motions.
"Iori-sensei, please hold onto me." Without waiting for any real confirmation from the other sorcerer, Shiki twists her body into a tight spin as she gathers her cursed energy, then slashes down. Her blade cleaves smoothly through the shining red lines, and the cage construct falls apart around them.
Iori-sensei's hands clench tightly around her arm.
"You can't keep this up forever, Shiki," the woman says grimly, which is true. In order to put an end to this, Shiki needs to kill the Special Grade Curse, and that's not going to happen if she's forever running around on the backfoot like this.
"I am aware. Suggestions?" Shiki skids along a roiling, unsteady surface, and flares her cursed energy in a circle around herself, promptly shattering the rocky whips aimed towards them. This attack is quickly followed by an actual boulder dropping down from the ceiling on top of their heads, and Shiki forces herself into a swift run once more, determinedly dragging Iori-sensei with her.
The cursed spirit knows what it's doing. After getting sliced apart by Shiki as a cursed womb, it's clearly wary of letting her close in again. All of the myriad earth-based attacks launched in their direction are pointedly driving her away from the cursed spirit itself. Even though Shiki is able to easily shatter and break through the constructs by cutting their lines, it means nothing when she's unable to damage the cursed spirit itself.
Moreover, with the entire terrain turned against them like this… at this rate she'll tire of exhaustion long before the cursed spirit does. Not only due to her physical limits, but also due to the limitations of her cursed energy. Unlike Satoru-niichan, whose reserves are a seemingly-infinite pool of energy to draw from, Shiki's only boon in this respect is that her cursed eyes are her default state, rather than one that requires additional cursed energy to activate and maintain. Which means that her cursed energy is currently split between enhancing her own body, supporting Iori-sensei, and defending the both of them from the insidious poison of the Special Grade's corrosive cursed energy.
And in contrast to her cousin, Shiki is not so skilled with controlling and manipulating her cursed energy that any losses due to inefficiency on her part are infinitesimally close to zero.
… That's also to say nothing of Iori-sensei, who's currently in a far worse state than Shiki, due to her prior injuries. Severe injuries, at that. Perhaps the only saving grace to their situation right now is that Iori-sensei's injuries miraculously aren't worsening… but there's no telling how much longer she'll be able to hold up for, if things continue dragging out endlessly like this.
Iori-sensei is right; this can't continue. But if Shiki means to go on the offensive, then that would mean leaving Iori-sensei to fend for herself. Shiki hadn't been overly concerned about a Grade One cursed spirit whose first instinct was to hide in her presence, but against a Special Grade–
"Trust me," Iori-sensei coughs. A terribly wet, rattling sound that inexplicably reminds Shiki of Yuzuki-san, and something inside her chest twists uncomfortably at the thought. But Iori-sensei's voice is steadfast, determined. "If things continue as they are, then we'll both die. So don't worry about me and do what needs to be done, Shiki. I'll support you –I still have enough cursed energy to activate my innate technique one more time. Solo Solo Prohibition Zone allows me to temporarily enhance the cursed energy reserves and output of any willing sorcerers within my range."
A cursed technique like that was a rare, powerful support-type technique with strong utility. Not for the first time, Shiki finds herself wondering just how Iori-sensei had found herself on a solo mission like if no one had been expecting the cursed spirit to have escaped its seals, surely they were aware of just what had been sealed in this mountain in the first place? A Grade One cursed spirit with the potential to reach Special Grade –why in the world had there been no one else supervising or accompanying Iori-sensei?
… This wasn't exactly the best time to be getting sidetracked by another tangent, though. "Alright. Please be careful, Iori-sensei."
"I'm a Semi Grade One sorcerer. I won't die so easily," the woman responds confidently, raising her hands and folding them into a seal in front of her chest, concentrating.
… Nothing happens.
"What–?" A startled look of consternation flashes across Iori-sensei's face, discernible even through the bloody mess of her features. Shiki roughly tugs her teacher out of the way of another projectile, clicking her tongue when the fist-sized rock suddenly explodes into an entire wave of deathly sharp caltrops right in front of them. There's no feasible way for her to knock all of them away with her sword, so Shiki is forced to raise her cursed energy in response–
It's not enough. Shiki is trying to be careful, between using her cursed energy to fight and using it to protect them, but hundreds of caltrops are too much to keep track of. Three of the nail-like barbs find their mark in her calves, another on her sword arm, and Shiki blocks another five of them from digging into Iori-sensei by using her own body as a shield. It's not really a conscious decision; just an instinctive reaction born of the knowledge that Iori-sensei is injured, and shouldn't be suffering even more wounds. Shiki, on the other hand, won't be affected by such minor injuries.
… Even if they were all laced with the poison of the Special Grade's unique cursed energy. But that's alright, she can use her cursed energy to suppress it.
"Oh, how cute," the cursed spirit croons from the other side of the cavern. Shiki ignores it, electing to focus on a stricken-looking Iori-sensei instead.
"I can't use my cursed technique," the woman whispers.
"It's alright, Iori-sensei." Unfortunate, but… Shiki isn't too surprised. With all the blood that Iori-sensei has lost, with how long the woman has already been fighting, it's not so surprising that she would make mistakes gauging her own limits.
"No, it's not," Iori-sensei disagrees with a startling vehemence. Then, she pushes her aside. Slightly haphazard, but firm. "Shiki, just go. We can't waste any more time like this!"
She's… right. Shiki knows that Iori-sensei is right. Even if there's no guarantee of Shiki being able to win in a direct fight against the Special Grade, it would still give them a better chance at getting out of this alive, as compared to forever scurrying around and dodging like this.
So why isn't she moving? Why does it feel like her body is rooted in place, unwilling to listen to the command to move?
… Is it because of Jihei-san?
Even though Shiki knows that it's the best option for her to leave and fight the Special Grade on her own… there's something about it that makes her hesitate. It's not fear. Or rather, it is, because –what if Iori-sensei dies, once Shiki is unable to reach her?
In the first place, they were only stuck in this harrowing situation because Shiki was careless. Because she was careless, and hadn't made sure that the cursed spirit was dead, when it was just a cursed womb. So why should Iori-sensei have to pay for her mistake?
… Shiki doesn't want Iori-sensei to die because of her.
Something in the older sorcerer's eyes softens, when she catches on to Shiki's uncharacteristic hesitance. Even so, her next words are resolute and uncompromising. "Shiki. Go."
"Yes, Iori-sensei."
Shiki roughly returns her sword to its sheath. Turns around and exhales slowly, clearing her mind.
Kill it. You need to kill the curse.
The earth beneath her feet rumbles dangerously. In front of them, there is a massive construct forming –an open-mouthed dragon, its monstrous maw yawning wide. The monster surges towards them with a speed that belies its massive size. Just the head alone dwarfs Shiki entirely, looming more than thrice her height above her. Its body fills the cavern entirely as it charges them, leaving them no room to dodge.
Clearly, the Special Grade cursed spirit is also getting tired of playing around.
… That's perfectly fine.
Shiki crouches, gathering cursed energy in her legs once more, ignoring the sting of pain from her injuries –minor scrapes, really, especially compared to Iori-sensei– then launches herself forward.
Directly into the gaping maw of the dragon-construct.
Even as the entire world darkens around her, even when all light blotted out in the rot-heavy pit of its suffocating stomach carved from stone, Shiki does not panic. Because it's not darkness, not truly. There are still countless lines shimmering around her, an intricate web that's so very, very fragile.
So easily broken.
Shiki draws her blade.
Her sword-drawing technique is nothing, in comparison to Kiyohira-sensei's lightning-fast draws. But it's fast enough, and with the brimming cursed energy compressed into her weapon, Shiki heaves her arms and cuts though–
The white-haired girl continues hurtling forward as the massive dragon collapses around her in a shower of dust, her momentum unbroken. She flips off of a spiked wall that suddenly shoots up in front of her without warning, instead using it like a ramp to accelerate her speed rather than having her stride broken by it. A shower of needles rain down on her from above, but Shiki ignores it. Most of the needles shatter against her body, enhanced by cursed energy as it is, but a few pierce through and nail themselves into her flesh, drawing blood.
It doesn't matter.
What matters is that Shiki's unbroken charge brings her right in front of the Special Grade cursed spirit, who bares a bloodthirsty smile at her as she breaks through the obstacles it throws at her. The cursed spirit makes a 'come hither' gesture with its sole human arm, then pulls out a newly-formed weapon from the ground beside its feet–
A sword. The cursed spirit means to match her with a sword?
Unsurprisingly, Shiki's initial strike meets no resistance. She instantly slices the Special Grade's earthen sword in two, the force of her blow barely even blunted by the makeshift weapon as she mercilessly tears a hole through its body.
The Special Grade rears back in surprise, but Shiki doesn't give it a chance to recover.
She continues pressing her advantage, sliding beneath its body and carving out the entire left section of its insectoid flank, taking off a few jointed legs for good measure. Shiki rolls and dodges the stalagmites that drop down from above, stumbling when one clips her side and another rips through the flesh on her leg, but doesn't allow herself to stop. She can't afford to stop.
The large, bulky shape of the Special Grade's body means that it's slower than Shiki. So, before it's adapted to her speed, before it realizes that it needs to herd her away and keep her at distance, she needs to kill it.
The severed half of the cursed spirit's body bubbles ominously, the same white substance as earlier oozing out, as if to form another copy of itself –but fails to do so. Shiki breaks its concentration by decapitating it–
Or, almost decapitating it. The Special Grade twists itself around just in time at the last minute, preventing it from becoming a true decapitating strike. There's a thin flap of skin still connecting its head to its neck, if only barely.
Shiki proceeds to ignore the head in favor of fully cleaving through the red line painted across the right side of its lower body, completely severing it so that its human-like torso is permanently detached from its insectoid half. Almost there. This time, as she slices up the insect-body, Shiki makes sure to confirm that the lines fall dull and dim, desolate in death. Then, she turns and stabs the cursed spirit through the chest, drawing her blade diagonally downwards to vivisect it and–
The flopping head that's hanging halfway off its neck suddenly flips around. Unholy black eyes bulge widely, and the Special Grade grins at her through a mouth full of blue-tinted blood.
"Got you."
Its single human arm is raised, grabbing tightly onto her sword. The cursed spirit's strength overpowers hers, firmly preventing her from cutting even an inch further through its lines. It's preventing her from withdrawing her weapon from its torso–!
The Special Grade's hand clenches down firmly into a fist, and it roars. Loud, overwhelming, and cursed energy bursts point-blank from its body.
The entire length of Shiki's blade instantly shatters.
Poisonous cursed energy sears against her skin, seeping past her defenses despite her best efforts. But rather than concentrating on shielding herself from the corrosive energy, Shiki focuses it all into her legs–
And not a moment too soon.
Shiki releases her hold on the hilt of her broken sword without a single trace of hesitation, and launches herself away, right before a massive hammer slams down on where she was standing. Had she stood there even a second longer, it undoubtedly would've ground her into a bloody paste.
Multiple earthen spikes shoot out towards her while she's airborne, targeting her while she lacks stable footing to maneuver herself. Without her sword, it's a lot harder to destroy the constructs. Shiki is able to sink her nails halfway into one of the pillars, before being forced to abandon her effort, or risk being impaled through the stomach by a wickedly sharp spire sprouting beneath her.
There's an insistent, throbbing pain pulsing on her hand; Shiki glances down. Three of her fingernails have been ripped off entirely, while the others appear to be severely cracked. Her fingertips are covered in blood.
… This wasn't looking so good. She needs to–
Unexpectedly, her leg suddenly buckles beneath her, refusing to support her weight. She breathes sharply in surprise, even as an ice-cold grimness grips her through her shock. When did–?
Of course. Her leg. The memory rushes back to her all at once. At the very beginning of the fight, when Shiki had been evading the cursed spirit's attacks with Iori-sensei, she'd been struck on her leg. Then again, when she'd been rushing the Special Grade, it had torn a vicious hole through that very same leg.
It was no longer a simple bloodstained injury now. The edges of the jagged wounds were black, the same sort of rotting black as the curse marring Iori-sensei's arms. Poison. Likely due to the unique nature of the Special Grade's cursed energy.
But it didn't make sense. Shiki had been consciously using her own cursed energy to suppress it–
"Took long enough for you to start feeling the effects, hmm?" The Special Grade's voice is smug. It swivels around, re-righting its head with a casual swing of its neck, and Shiki is forced to watch it reattach smoothly upon its shoulders with a fleshy bubbling pulsating along the line of the cut. "How tenacious. Resisting the worst of my poison, fighting while expending additional energy to defend that deadweight, all while the toxic nature of my domain already requires cursed energy to defend against… I'll admit, I'm surprised that it took as long as it did to wear you down."
Cursed energy.
Is that what it is? Is she… running out of cursed energy?
Shiki's fingertips are numb. There's a slight, involuntary tremble to them, when she raises them in front of her. Was it… because she was running low on cursed energy, and not because of her injuries and exhaustion?
She clenches her hand into a bloody fist. The trembling disappears.
"Your cursed technique is simple, but dangerous," the cursed spirit continues, exultant in imminent victory. It begins reattaching itself to the bloodied mess of its insectoid lower body that Shiki had severed from it just moments ago. "It allows you to cut anything in your range. But that relies on you having a weapon, doesn't it? So I destroyed yours. You couldn't destroy the pillars earlier with your bare hands, so that means I'm right! You need a sword to kill me."
The Special Grade cursed spirit makes a vaguely irritated sound in the back of its throat, when its insectoid half successfully connects back to its torso, but fails to move properly. Or rather, does not move at all, to be precise. But the cursed spirit appears dismissive, and instead decides to raise the earth beneath itself as a moving platform to slowly advance on her.
Shiki tenses as the Special Grade curse approaches.
"Remember what I said earlier, little sorcerer? I'm going to eat your flesh and drink your blood." Its too-large smile widens, bloodthirsty and crazed. "I will devour you. Your abilities will nourish my own!"
With that declaration, the cursed spirit dramatically raises its sole arm towards her. Eight pillars rise upwards around her, rumbling, trapping her in from all sides. As they reach their apex, the pillars sharpen into points and–
"Oh no you don't!"
Shiki's head snaps up at the sound of that enraged voice, from where she's already prepared to burn through the last of her cursed energy.
Iori-sensei?!
The normally-elegant woman is dirty, disheveled. Covered in blood and grime, but there is something about her that still shines, as she delivers a powerful drop-kick to the Special Grade cursed spirit from behind.
The Special Grade stumbles, completely caught off guard. Evidently, it had been far too focused on Shiki as the greater threat, allowing Iori-sensei to capitalize on its inadvertent opening.
Unfortunately, her strike isn't strong enough to break through its defenses. Unlike Shiki, Iori-sensei doesn't have the advantage of a cursed technique that essentially renders all conventional defensive measures nonexistent. The girl's breath catches in her throat when her teacher is sent tumbling down from its retaliatory backhand strike, but halfway through her tangled fall Iori-sensei looks up and catches her eye.
Her gaze is determined, undaunted.
Between one heartbeat and the next, Iori-sensei proceeds to throw something at her. A silver blur glinting in the air, one that barely makes it through the gaps of the pillars closing in on Shiki–
The little girl catches the object entirely on instinct, only recognizing it for what it is after she's holding it in her hand.
It's a knife.
The very same one that she'd thrown to save Iori-sensei, earlier.
Her bloody fingers clamp down and close around the hilt, gripping the weapon tightly.
… Even despite holding a weapon again, the current situation still isn't looking good. Shiki had messed up, again. Despite managing to do a fair bit of damage to the cursed spirit earlier, right now she's trapped and injured and running low on cursed energy. Shiki has never depleted her cursed energy reserves like this before. Her usual fighting style isn't one that uses much cursed energy in the first place, aside from physical augmentation, so she's never been stressed and pushed to her limits like this. Would she be in a better position if she'd been more careful with how she expended her energy? If she was less wasteful with how she used it, if her efficiency was a little closer to Satoru-niichan's?
Maybe.
In this moment, though, all it means is that Shiki needs to squeeze and extract every single last drop of utility out of the cursed energy she has remaining.
The entire world almost seems to narrow around her, as Shiki closes her eyes and focuses on the energy flowing through her body.
Faster. More efficient. Compress it.
Her arm lashes out, knife-point cleaving easily through the earthen constructs about to crush her. Cursed energy flares along the blade, but it's–
Too slow, she instantly concludes. Smoother. The energy shouldn't be fluctuating erratically like this.
Yes. It needs to flow.
Shiki lightly taps a boulder with her foot, and leaps upwards using it as a stepping stone. There's no deliberate coil and release of cursed energy as she's always been taught to do, and yet she finds herself flying.
Not enough. It's still not enough.
She's face-to-face with the cursed spirit, now. There's an odd look on its face, and it says something that Shiki does not hear, nor does she pay any attention to. It's not worth paying any attention to.
In this frozen moment, nothing else in the world matters or even exists but the cursed energy circulating in her veins, and the eerie red lines flickering in front of her eyes.
… How beautiful.
Shiki flips the knife around in her hand and cuts; her cursed energy rises in response, flashing pitch-dark black.
Time resumes.
The cursed spirit howls, a discordant sound that's filled with unadulterated pain and raw fear. But its voice is swiftly lost upon the empty air, as its entire body ruptures and disintegrates from the sheer force of that final black-edged strike. As the curse crumbles into dust, so do the multiple constructs that it had raised out of the earth. With the sudden loss of the cursed energy sustaining the technique, everything begins splintering and falling apart.
The entire cavern shakes. With a loud crack, the entire space breaks open, boulders tumbling down alarmingly around them–
Then, sunlight.
.
.
Golden shades of rosy reds and pinks are streaked liberally across the evening sky, by the time Shiki finally makes it back to the smoking, empty ruins of the abandoned village, stumbling upon the winding mountain path on shaky legs.
… What a way to confirm that the cave they'd been trapped in with the Special Grade wasn't a separate barrier space, but instead a barrier that cheated by being overlaid atop a preexisting space. If they hadn't already been as close to the surface as they were, and if Shiki's abilities hadn't include an aptitude for reducing any and all obstacles in her path to dust and rubble, that impromptu cave-in at the very end could've easily been the most dangerous part of fighting that Special Grade. Shiki knows how to fight a cursed spirit, not a landslide! She and Iori-sensei could've been buried alive!
Thankfully, though, things didn't come to that.
…
Everything hurts. Shiki is currently attempting to conserve her cursed energy, which means that she's limiting herself to only using a thin strand to suppress the curse-infected injury on her leg, and nothing else. Stumbling around with an unconscious Iori-sensei's arm slung over her shoulder using only her natural strength is more difficult than expected. It really brings into perspective just how reliant Shiki is on her cursed energy to keep up with everything–
The bedraggled girl's footsteps come to a sudden halt.
"Who are you?"
There's a single person standing in the center of the village ruins. A young woman with a light shade of rosy brown hair, dressed smartly in the formal suit that most assistant managers wear, except there's no way that she's an assistant manager. Shiki can tell that from a single glance. The woman's lines indicate that she possesses a cursed technique. While that in itself wouldn't be overly alarming –assistant managers who possessed cursed techniques were few, but far from uncommon– the way the woman looks at Shiki makes it clear that she's mentally sizing her up, rather than arriving to help.
"Hello, Gojo-san. Please do not be alarmed, I'm from the Kyoto–"
"Lie to me again, and I'll kill you." Right now, Shiki has zero patience for suspicious characters accosting her with such coincidental timing. "Answer my question. Who are you?"
The woman twitches at Shiki's curt reaction, pretty features contorting into something mildly irritated. "Look, you're not in any position to–"
"Suda, it's alright. I'll take things from here."
… Shiki had noticed that the woman hadn't been alone, so a sudden intervention like this wasn't entirely unexpected. But even so, this was still… surprising. The sorcerer that had just stepped forward places a placating hand on his bristling companion's shoulder, then looks up and smiles at her.
"Hello, Shiki," he says lightly. "Long time no see."
The girl gazes back steadily, unblinkingly. "… Hello, Geto-san."
He looks different. Of course he does. It's been almost five years since the last time Shiki had seen him, and the Geto Suguru in her memories is vastly different to the one that stands before her in this moment, smiling. His hair is quite long, for one. Instead of a dark blue school uniform, Geto-san is now dressed in a black yukata, with a gold kasaya robe overlaid on top.
… Why is he dressed as a monk?
Wait, no, she actually knows the answer to that. Shiki recalls hearing something about Geto-san taking over some religious organization… then heading overseas? At which point Satoru-niichan had also begun accepting more overseas missions, in between his duties as clan head.
When did Geto-san return to Japan? Was this only temporary, or was this the start of something more permanent?
… More importantly, why was he here? Why here, why now? Did he hold some sort of connection to the cursed spirit that Shiki had just fought? The woman beside him was masquerading as an assistant manager –were they infiltrating the jujutsu school? For what purpose?
For a brief moment, Shiki almost wonders if the exhaustion has gotten to her head, to the point that she's seeing things that aren't supposed to be there, but…
It's real. Geto-san's cursed energy is the same as she remembers. The breeze upon her skin is real, as is the throbbing pain in her body.
"Looks like you've just gotten out of a rough fight," he says to her. "Allow me to provide assistance?"
Shiki gives Geto-san an unimpressed look. "Under Article 9 of the Standard Jujutsu Regulations–"
"Standing orders regarding me are 'kill on sight,' yes, I'm well aware." The man waves his hand in an exasperated gesture, seemingly unconcerned. "I would advise against that. You're in no condition to be getting into another fight now, Shiki, and I don't want to hurt you."
"I know." That much is obvious. There's been a distinct lack of hostility from the man this entire time. In fact, Shiki would almost say that he's trying to be comforting, instead.
… Geto-san has never hurt Shiki before. He'd always smiled at her, worried about her. Geto-san was nice, and Shiki had genuinely liked him, but… was this really the same Geto-san she had known? … Had she ever truly known Geto-san in the first place?
Satoru-niichan is probably the only person who can put claim to that.
"You need help," Geto-san's voice is calm and reasonable. "It's a long way down the mountain from here, and there are still several cursed spirits wandering unchecked. Lower-ranked they might be, but they still hold an advantage in numbers. You're already running low on cursed energy; you won't be able to carry Utahime down by yourself without aggravating your own injuries –or worsening hers. My friend here isn't a doctor like Shoko, but she's quite skilled and will be able to provide basic treatment. What do you think?"
Shiki thinks that it sounds too good to be true, which means that it probably is. "And what would you get out of this, may I ask?"
The woman standing by his side scowls. "Geto-sama is offering to help you, you ungrateful–"
Geto-san shakes his head, cutting her off. "That's enough, Suda. We're technically enemies of the jujutsu administration, and the Gojo Clan is closely involved with their inner workings. It's only natural that she's cautious."
A brief pause. Geto-san turns back towards Shiki.
"You ask what I would get out of this? Your goodwill, for one," he says candidly. "And Utahime is an excellent sorcerer and a fellow classmate, back in the day. I would be very sad to lose her."
… Why would Shiki's goodwill matter for anything? Shouldn't it be Satoru-niichan who Geto-san was more concerned about?
"I can't tell if you're lying," Shiki admits honestly. She doesn't know how to read Geto-san anymore… if she ever did in the first place. "If what you say is true, then can you swear to me on a binding vow that you will help Iori-sensei?"
"A binding vow? How dare you demand–"
"Suda." This time, Geto-san's voice is sharp, reprimanding. The woman's mouth instantly snaps shut. "… Thank you. And, if it will put you at ease, I will happily accede to making a binding vow with you, Shiki. However… I have my own conditions. In exchange for helping you and Utahime, you won't tell anyone of my presence here today. Or Suda's."
Shiki frowns, hearing the unspoken subtext loud and clear. "You want me to hide this from Satoru-niichan?"
"Well, my family and I aren't quite ready for a confrontation against Satoru just yet." … Wasn't his family dead? Hadn't he killed his parents himself, actually? Shiki really doesn't understand what he's talking about, but now does not seem like the proper time to ask. "I would appreciate it, if you could keep things secret for me."
For emphasis, the man raises a finger in front of his lips in a universal 'shh' gesture for silence.
"… And if I don't agree to this?"
"Then, we're at an impasse." Geto-san spreads his hands and shrugs faux-helplessly. "You might be able to tough things out a little longer, but Utahime really does need treatment, before it becomes life-threatening. For your safety, and Utahime's, I'd insist on accompanying you. If that means taking the two of you into my custody despite your reservations on the matter… better to ask forgiveness than permission, hmm?"
… Was this his roundabout way of saying that he'd kidnap them, if Shiki insisted on being difficult?
Geto-san doesn't intend to hurt her. Even now, she still doesn't sense any ill intent coming from the man. However, the lack of hostility doesn't mean that he necessarily has Shiki's best interests in mind. There's a reason why Geto-san left the jujutsu school and abandoned Satoru-niichan, even if Shiki doesn't understand it.
She supposes that she should be glad that he's at least doing her the courtesy of asking her first, instead of unilaterally kidnapping her without a word. Geto-san is right about one thing; Shiki isn't in the best state to be getting herself into another battle at the moment.
"How about this," the sorcerer proposes, breaking the silence. "Suda will give basic treatment to the two of you, to the best of her abilities. We will safely see you and Utahime down the mountain until you reunite with your support staff and assistant managers. In exchange, you won't inform anyone of our presence here today, and in the meantime we can hold a pleasant conversation together without trying to curse each other. Does that sound fair?"
Even though it's not as if she has much of an actual choice right now… Satoru-niichan is going to be very put out with her after this, definitely.
Shiki sighs, "I accept your terms."
Geto-san claps his hands together. "Excellent, excellent, I'm glad we could come to an agreement. Now, let's get off this godforsaken mountain together, shall we?"
.
.
…
.
Author's Notes:
Bit of a rocky (ha) experience here, but Utahime is successfully rescued! Shiki also performs Black Flash, milestone achieved. Surprise guest towards the end. :3
To anyone who might've caught some strange spots scattered throughout the battle –this is intentional. We'll be addressing it in the following updates.
Next chapter will be an interlude! Currently the list of upcoming POVs tentatively includes: Geto Suguru, Iori Utahime, Gojo Satoru, and Kamo Matsuhime. Maybe Gojo Yuzuki and/or Fushiguro Tsumiki?
AU snippets, update notifications, etc. are all on my Tumblr! Link in profile.
Cheers,
XxZuiliu